Volunteering: make your time really count

Saturday 16 January 2010 19.05 EST
First published on Saturday 16 January 2010 19.05 EST

GETTING STARTED

You need to decide what you want from your experience – a holiday with a bit of volunteering on the side (so-called "voluntourism"), or full-time involvement in a serious project. You also need to work out how much you want to spend, as, paradoxically, volunteering can be hugely pricey (to cover the costs of local representation, assistance with travel arrangements, administration and so on).

A good place to start is yearoutgroup.org, a website set up by the Year Out Group, an umbrella association for more than 35 gap-year organisations. You can search by company, project or destination. Check out what you will be expected to do, whether you need any particular skill or experience, and what training is provided. Is the company willing to provide contact details of returned volunteers, and not just direct you to the glowing reports on its website? Try also wwv.org.uk, ecoteer.com, gapyear.com and volunteering.org.uk.

VOLUNTOURISM

Companies such as i-to-i (0800 011 1156; i-to-i.com), Real Gap (01892 516164; realgap.co.uk) and Hands up Holidays (020 7193 1062; handsupholidays.com) have helped to create "voluntourism". Trips with i-to-i, for example, cost around £1,000-£1,800 for between two and six weeks, including some meals, hostel accommodation and activities, but excluding flights, insurance and visas. Always ask a company if it is happy to supply cost breakdowns. Be suspicious if its answers are vague.

If you are an experienced traveller and confident about heading off independently, you can opt for an organisation in your destination that offers you a placement, but expects you to take care of your accommodation and flights. For example the Tsunami Volunteer Centre (00 66 7648 5541; tsunamivolunteer.net), based in Khao Lak, Thailand, offers two-week stints doing anything from leading sessions in children's clubs to cleaning up beaches and rebuilding homes – perfect for combining with a holiday. It costs £45 for registration, which includes transport to and from project sites and lunch each day.

VOLUNTEERING WITH A CHARITY

There are various opportunities with charitable organisations. Raleigh International (020 7183 1270; raleighinternational.org), for example, has five- or 10-week expeditions to Borneo, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and India. While its project volunteers are aged between 17 and 25, it also needs supervisors, aged from 25 to 75. The company talks about "fundraising rather than costs" – the supervisors' fund-raising target is £1,950 for a 10-week project (to cover accommodation, transport and training), plus flights. Most people raise this money through sponsorship.

LONG-TERM PLACEMENTS

GVI (01727 250250; gvi.co.uk/volunteer-abroad) organises trips from three months to one year. It's not cheap though – for example, nine months working with orphaned children in Mombasa, Kenya, costs £3,995 including accommodation, food and training, but not flights.

Volunteer Action for Peace (0844 209 0927; vap.org.uk) sets up trips around the world for up to a year with grassroots projects, such as helping Peruvian street children. Participants make their own arrangements for travel to the project. There is a £180 adminstration fee and a monthly hosting fee, which covers the cost of the organisation of the project, food, accommodation and cultural activities.

GET PAID TO VOLUNTEER

Voluntary Service Overseas (020 8780 7500; vso.org.uk), the granddaddy of volunteering, has a range of placements from six months to two years in developing countries. Volunteers can earn a salary, which is comparable with what locals would earn in a similar job. This is considered their living allowance.

VSO has a pool of professionals, whom it then allocates when opportunities come up. The upper age limit is 75, and volunteers must have a professional qualification and experience in their specific field. People can express a preference for where they want to work, but there are no guarantees. As well as a salary, VSO offers travel expenses, accommodation, visas, medical and travel insurance, and a minimum of three weeks' holiday a year. See what life is like as a VSO volunteer at green.tv/vso.